Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The New Lonelygirl15

"The inventors -- Greg Goodfried, 27; Miles Beckett, 28; and Mesh Flinders, 26 -- plan to take the video-saga experiment in social networking much further by using technology to build a Web-site community around the show.

But while technology appears to inspire the trio's creativity, some technology insiders believe the sociological aspects have proved more powerful because through social network sites, technology enables people to peer into the life of others.

"People have a voyeuristic interest in seeing what other people are doing, saying or thinking online," said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Williamson. "It's a big part of why YouTube has exploded in popularity in recent months. Lonelygirl15 seemed authentic and real, and people were drawn to that."

Blogger Anthony Citrano, co-founder of the PopTech conference, said the Lonelygirl15 phenomena wouldn't have been possible five years ago. "Today, millions of people have access to broadband technology, whereas that wasn't the case five years ago, but we're naturally curious creatures," he said."